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The Resistance of Memory
}} Roy and the Oracle discuss Belkar's fate before Roy is Dismissed. However the Dismissal bypasses the memory charm. Roy remembers everything. Cast * Roy Greenhilt (as spirit) ◀ ▶ * Eugene Greenhilt ◀ ▶ * Roy's Archon ◀ ▶ * The Oracle of the Sunken Valley ◀ ▶ Transcript Roy: Why didn't you say something earlier?!? I could have told Haley where to find Durkon! Oracle: Gosh, I don't know... is it because I don't like you? You dangled me out of a window! Oracle: Plus your furry-footed friend just made me his temporary magic dagger repository. Roy: I think I'm going to have to take exception to the word “friend”. Roy: More like, “unfortunate responsibility” or “lodestone”. Oracle: At any rate, your pal isn't long for this world, so I saw no reason not to have my fun where I could. Oracle: I almost named the village, “Shouldacheckdamap” but I thought it was funnier to work blue. Roy: Not long for this world? What are you saying? Oracle: The same thing I said last time you were here, only you forgot. Here, you want it on record? The Oracle goes into a trance, is hit by a white spotlight from above, levitates, is surrounded by a green aura, and his speech bubble turns green. Oracle: Belkar will draw his last breath—ever—before the end of the year. The Oracle breaks the fourth wall and winks. Oracle: That's an “in-comic” year, not a real-time year, Oracle fans! Roy: Huh? Oracle: Don't worry about it. Oracle: There, that was on the house, so you can remember it. You'll forget everything else once you pass through the Memory Charm. Oracle: Now scurry home to your cloud, Casper, before I banish you. I have an important client flying in and I don't want a dead mammal messing it up. Roy: You're not a cleric, Scaly. You can't banish me if you tried. Oracle: True, I'm not a cleric... The Oracle produces a wand. Oracle: ...but ain't it funny how I always seem to have just the right magic item here in my robe? Oracle: Dismissal! Roy: Ah— Roy finds himself back in the afterlife. Roy: —crap. Roy: I was hoping I might be able to glean some more info by listening to other people's prophecies, since that's the only part I won't... Roy: ...forget. Roy: The Dismissal must have bypassed the Memory Charm, and the kobold didn't bother to look into the future to make sure! Roy: I remember everything! Eugene sits next to Roy reading a rulebook, while Roy's Archon floats behind a DM screen. Four polyhedral dice are lie on the cloud. Roy: I REMEMBER EVERYTHING! Eugene Greenhilt: Good, then you can tell me what page it says you don't die until -10 hp. Roy’s Archon: I already told you, in this edition, that's an optional rule that we're not using! You're dead at 0 hp! Eugene: Well that's a stupid rule and they should change it! Roy’s Archon: They did! D&D Context * Roy calls Belkar a "lodestone", which is a naturally magnetized magnetite rock. What he means to say is that Belkar is like a Loadstone, also known as a Stone of Weight, a cursed magic item which weighs down a character and cannot be discarded. * Dismissal is a 4th level Cleric or 5th level Sorcerer/Wizard spell that sends extraplanar creatures (such as Roy's ghost, which belongs in the afterlife) back to their proper plane. The Oracle is not a spellcaster (as he reveals in #566), but due to his divination abilities can plan ahead with total foresight, and any spell can be imbued into a wand to do the same thing. * The tri-folded screen and polyhedral dice as well as the two rulebooks are being used to play a game of D&D, apparently 2nd edition AD&D. * In the 0th and 1st editions, death occurred at 0 hp. In the 2nd edition, an optional rule was introduced where unconsciousness results at 0 hp, followed by death at -10 hp. In 3.5e, this rule was formalized as part of the system. Trivia * The Oracle predicts that Belkar will only have one more birthday in #329. * Blue comedy is off-color, risqué, indecent or profane comedy, often about sex. In this case, the Oracle refers to his choice to name the village "Lickmyorangeballshalfling" in #568. * The "important client flying in" is revealed in #628 to be Mother Dragon, who was seeking the location of the murderer of her child. External Links * 572}} View the comic * 84127}} View the discussion thread Category:Return to the Oracle Category:Uses Dismissal